The Graner Affair
By Irwin N. Graulich (01/20/05)
It is "The Dreyfus Affair" redux. A trumped up government scandal being force-fed by a hateful, vengeful press.
A ten year prison sentence to someone who deserves a medal for refraining from seriously hurting the most despicable Iraqi prisoners. Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr., responsible for guarding vicious members of Saddam's military, did not twist anyone's arm or even draw blood. His biggest crime was placing underwear over the enemy's head and using guard dogs as a fear tactic.
Yet, just like Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was set up by some holier than thou government officials and a corrupt news organization, The Graner Affair represents the disdain of America by immoral foreign governments, aided by a values free media industrial complex.
Where is the ACLU on Graner's behalf? Or do they only scream for the rights of murderers, rapists and child molesters. My ninth grade teacher abused students more severely than any American soldier in Abu Ghraib. Our English teacher's physical abuse actually put marks on some of our bodies and a bump on my own head from chalk thrown at me. Students who did not hand in their homework on time were made into shameful examples through incredible humiliation. Yet the truants who hung out on the street corner smoking and dealing drugs were almost never reprimanded. Government workers again cowering to evil.
President Bush should stand behind his military with common sense decency by pardoning Graner and the other 20 soldiers. Their "fraternity" stunts do not come close to serious crimes by any American standard. Unlike our Founding Fathers who stood for important principles, modern government employees whether elected or career workers are simply afraid to take a proper moral stand on behalf of America.
Today, working for the government means playing it safe and jumping onto a self-righteous moral bandwagon. With apologies to some wonderful teachers who are in the minority, everyone knows that, "Those who can do--Do. Those who can't do--Teach. Those who cannot teach--Teach Gym. And those who cannot teach gym go into politics or work for the government."
OJ Simpson is out playing golf and Andrea Yates has her sentence overturned. The message to society is clearly that we accept the murder of your wife and children, but do not dare mistreat a terrorist in any way. Kudos go out to The New York Times for this accomplsihment. And where is Johnnie Cochrane when you really need him with his innovative legal strategy of, "If the army fatigue hat does not fit, you must acquit."
Only Ted Kennedy, an extraordinarily immoral man guilty of involuntary manslaughter, can agree with the BBC, Le Monde and Al Jazeera, calling American soldiers "sadistic." If Americans are sadistic, what would you call Europeans, who in the last 100 years were responsible for more civilian deaths than any evil in the history of the world? Suddenly Europeans, who have the most bizarre sexual morals with perverse sex clubs mushrooming everywhere, find naked prisoners more disgusting than actual torture and murder.
The American media has bought into the lie of the Left, attempting to show their goodness by having compassion for evil and not for American defenders of freedom. The Left and the media are dissatisfied with their own lives and indeed get meaning through embracing ridiculous causes including Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and allowing cold blooded murderers in American prisons to live out their lives with free food, free medical care, recreation and cable tv.
One of the most important reasons that the Internet has replaced the alphabet channels for news is the low moral standard of broadcast journalism. When ABC, NBC and CBS look ridiculous, like in the recent Dan Rather situation, most decent Americans have a wonderful feeling that rivals sex.
Since the Iraqis or anyone else cannot defeat America militarily, their egos try to make us look like we fight dirty, or at least "guard" dirty. Much of the Arab and Muslim world will not allow itself to believe that anything America does is good, while anything done in the name of Islam is bad. Never mind that Saddam actually hung people by their genitals in Abu Ghraib.
Let us be clear about good and evil. Roughing up a bad guy before interrogation is not torture. Neither is underwear placed on their heads. In fact, many UN officials are paying hundreds of dollars an hour for such services In New York City. The concept that dishonor and humiliation are much worse than cutting off a human being's head while screaming "Allah Hu Achbar," only proves that we need to force Western values onto a significant part of the world.
Who knows how many American lives were actually saved due to information acquired from detainee terrorists who feared consequences. If sexual humiliation will get those lowlives to tell us where they hid the roadside bombs, then bring on the "French ticklers" and vibrators.
Abdul-Fattah, a 65 year old retired Iraqi officer said he was "shocked to see Graner walking away with a smile...and that he (Graner) did not regret his shameful acts." Guaranteed that this Iraqi never criticized his old boss who put people into shredding machines head first if he liked you, and feet first if he wanted you to suffer.
In the final analysis, we are trying to fight terrorism with law. While we should always maintain high American ethical standards, if someone fights dirty, we cannot say that we will simply follow every single rule to the letter and fight clean. There are grey areas in war and in life. But to haters of the West and to their partners on the Left, everything is racism-- they think only in terms of black and white.
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